Inertia control device



Feb.' 4, 1947.v L, EKSERGlAN 2,415,344

INERTIA CONTROL DEVICE Filed Nov, 14, 1941 J5 INVEN'TOR 22102113 L.E/Zs'ergzaw A TTORNE Y Patented Feb. C, 1947 UNIT-Eo STATES 2,415,344INERTIA CONTROL Dnvlcr:v

Carolus L. Eksergian, Detroit, Mich., assigner to The Budd Company,Philadelphia, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application November14, 1941, Serial No. 419,087

, 6 DClaims. y l

The invention relates to inertia control devices and more particularlyto such devices adapted to control the brakes of a v ehicle.

In the braking of vehicles it is desirable to apply the braking force tothe highest degree possible without causing the sliding of the wheels.It is, however, impossible to do this because of the varying adhesionbetween the wheels and track without causing the wheels to reach asliding condition. Such sliding condition is to be avoided for tworeasonailrst, because the adhesion between a sliding wheel and the railis very much less than the adhesion bet'ween a rolling Wheel and therail, and thus much of the braking effect vis lost when a wheel slides.Second, slid wheels are quickly worn at and have to be removed andreground or otherwise retrued. It is therefore, highly desirable toavoid wheel sliding and numerous devices have been suggested to releasethe braking force on a wheel once it begins to slip, so that it maynever reach a sliding stage. Most such devices have been relativelycomplicated and diilicult to install in locations where they werereadily accessible and their installation and maintenance was relativelyexpensive.

It is an' object of the invention to simplify the construction andinstallation of such devices and to provide a device of this class,which is light in weight and assured of a long life under the heavypounding to which it is subjected in use.

It is also a further object of the invention tosimplify the drivebetween the inertia member and the rotatable member which it controls.

These objects of the invention are attainedin large part by theprovision of a ilxed support for the inertia member surrounding a partof the rotatable member and by making the drive between the rotatablemember and the inertia member a magnetic drive. Under normalacceleration and deceleration ofthe Vrotatable member, the inertiamember is dragged around with the rotatable member by an armature havingits axis in line with the poles of a magnet carried by the inertiamember. The inertia member may be, and preferably is, a permanentmagnet.

, When, due to excessive acceleration or deceleration oi' the rotatablemember, such as is due to wheel slip the inertia member overruns or lagsbehind the rotatable member and the armature is brought out of phasewith the line joining the magnet poles, the magnetic lines of forcethrough the armature arefcut and become` available to attract anotherarmature located at such distancek from the poles as to come undertheiniluence ot the magnet only when such out of phase relation betweenthe first armature and the magnet poles obtains. The attraction of thissecond armature is utilized to control the brakes and eiect theirrelease. i Other and further objects and advantages and the manner inwhich they are attained will become apparent from the following detaileddescription when read in connection with the drawing forming a Darthereof.

In the drawing, Fig. l is a diagrammatic view, parts being in axialsection, showing the device applied to the wheel and axle assembly of arail vehicle;

Fig. 2 is a sectional View on an enlarged scale taken substantiallyonthe line 2--2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a similar view to Fig. 2 but omittingthe outside casing and showing the parts in a different relativeposition.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged axial sectional view of a modified form of thedevice, and

Fig. 5 is a sectional View taken substantially on the line 5 5 of Fig.4. Y

The device as shown in Figs. 1 to 3 may be housed within a casing I0,preferably made of aluminum or other non-magnetic material. This casingmay consists of an inner portion II mounting the inertia member I2 andan outer light cover portion I 3. 'I'he casing so formed is adapted tobe secured to the usual axle box I4 m Yplace of the usual cover as by anannular series of bolts I5.v The axle I6 to which the wheel Il isrigidly secured is mounted in the axle box by the usual roller bearingI8 adapted to take radial and end thrust loads. The truck frame at I9and a brake support at 2u.

It is to be understood that the truck and brake arrangement shown ismerely for illustration, for the device is adapted for use withv any ofthe 40 many existing types of trucks and brakes. In fact, in itsbroadest aspect, it is adapted for other uses than-the use in which itis shown, namely, as a brake control device. l

The' inertia member I2 is mounted onlantifriction bearings 2l upon ahollow cylindrical extension 22 of the casing portion II arrangedcoaxially with the axis of the axle I6. This extension is open at itsinner end and closed at its outer end thus sealing the parts within thecasing against the entrance of oil from the axle box. 'I'he outer end 23of the extension 22 beyoud the bearing 2| is made quite thin andthe polepieces 2| and 25 of the permanent magnet formed by the inertia member I2are arranged- Il in closely spaced relation to diametricallyopposupported by the wheels and axles is indicated v @Eten pieces t@ anda ff ber 2Q of agnctic t roded and in close proximity tothe t endrocciosi u el.

site or t outer eind 2t. To present is or the and loss oi magnet by cinertia member l2 it is preiew inounte ed on a rubber sleeve 253 maisbetween the er bem.: race and the extension it.

To drive the inertia member it trom the suele iii the axle is providedwith a reduced eaten l 'le into the hollow extension d2 and car ai, iersely el ated. mem erial, the en oi which are 28 oi the exten it. usthere is a relaa t its outer end., in the px or the pole iii . the wheeland'axle in returning to speed the intlv ll sep between roed ends oi1the member le, which constitutes an armature and the pole pieces 2d and2t oi the :eanently metized inertia mer i2.

len the ature Zit is erred with its lon- .la with the pole pieces, thelines or ne e force tend to hold, it in this position, and in all normalrates or acceleration or deceleration oi the axle the inertie member isrotated with the axle, with-the parts in approxitely the relation sho inFig. 2,'soiely through magnetic force. it now. the wheel on the aide i@begins to slip, the axle decelerates very rapidly and the inertia oi themass of member is overcomes the magnetic force, causing the inertiamember to overrun the axle a to move the armature @il with its long axisin a position out oi line with the poles ad and te. 'ihus a large gapouter wall of casing part .it is mounted an annu-v lar armature @ilnorlly spaced some distance from the outer faces ci the pole pieces ldand 25. s armature is secured to a disc di oi insulating vmaterial whichis mounted on the bracket de and guided for in and out movement thereonby a plurality oi pins 3i secured thereto and slidable in openings inthe bracket. Springs 83 surround= ine the pins normally urge 'the atureto its outer position spaced from the poles 2li and 2t, as shown in Fig.i.

The insulating disc Si carries near its periph ery a switch contact 865,this contact being located opposite another switch contacttt secured ininsulated relation to the c part it).

When the inertia member overruns the axle as shown in Fig. 3, and thelines oi magnetic force through the armature 2d are broken, they act toattract the armature 3@ and. draw it toward the pole pieces against theaction oi the springs 33,

- thereby causing the switch contact 3d to close against switch contact35 to operate the control circuit in which this switch is interposed.ere the device is used as shown to control the brakes and prevent wheelslide, this switch 65 may control a circuit indicated in Fig. l ascomprising a battery 3b, a coil 3l for operating a supplyand releasevalve 33 and leads 39 and it connecting the switch in series with saidbattery and coil. The valve 33 may be oi any well-known construction andnormally is open to permit the passage of air from the supply pipe ilthrough the pipe d2 to the brake cylinder d3. .At such time the exhaustpipe d4 is cut 0E. When the coil 8l lid the .valve is' operated toconnect the pim it to the exhaust pipe di and to cut ed the supply pipedi, thus rele r. the pressure in the braise cylirim der., This releaseof pressure will allow the slip@ ping wheel to accelerate rapidly backto the speed of the vehicle, the inertia member acting dur-ins theexcessive acceleration attained in such rer to hold the switch closedand the brake pres= sure ed until the wheel has substantially returnedto speed. During the excessive acceleration of ertia member will lagbehind the axle and cause the armature t@ to be attracted to the inertiaember to close the control switch ed, i3d in the same mer as dg theexcessive deceleral tion at the beginning ci wheel slip.

vln Figs. 3 and e is shown a slightly m form oi switch operation forcontrolling the con= trol circuit. In these gures web corresponding .toparts of the form shown in s. l to 3 are correspondingly numbered. inthis form o the invention the reduced axle extension 2i is providedbeyond the armatureA 2t with an extension d5 extending through asuitably packed opening le in the outer end of the hollow extension 2t.Upon a freely slidable sleeve il mounted on this extension is carriedthe annular r. am @il corresponding to armature 3b in the form of Figs.1 to 3. The longitudinal position oi the arma ture 58 is determined by apin at secured in extension it and projectingv into an arcuate slot dein the'sleeve di. Springs 5i and 52 secured at their inner ends to thepin 59 and at their outer ends to pins 53 and Sd, respectively, on theouter ture spaced from the outer. face ci the pole pieces 2d and 25keeping the pin it at the center of the arcuatel slot t as shown inFigs. 4 and 5.

lf the inertia member l2 overruns or lags bchind the axle ashereinbefore described, the ar mature d@ will be attracted by themagnetic in crtia member and tend to rotate with the latter, and, insuch rotation by reason. of the arcuate slot, it will move endwisetoward the inertia member and in so doingoperate a switch to oon-= trolthe circuit including leads t@ ancliil. Such switch may comprise acontact 5b mounted in insulated relation on casing part it andelectrically connected to lead 39 and another cons tact 5Sv forcooperation with contact 55 and mounted in insulated relation on oneendof a le ver 5l pivotally mounted between its ends on a bracket 58 onthev casing, the opposite end of the lever being bifurcated and havinginwardly extending pins (not shown)` on its fui-cations seated in anannular groove be on the sleeve de. It will be seen that inward axialmovement of the sleeve will operate the switch contact to closedposition. This switch arrangement is preferable to the form shown inFigs. 1 to 3, in that the switch is positively prevented by pin l frombeing unintentionally operated as a result of axial jars, whereas thesprings 33 alone prevent such actuation in the form of Figs. i to 3.

From, the foregoing detailed description, the operation of the device isbelieved clear. While two specic embodiments of the device have beendescribed in detail. it will be understood by those skilled in the artthat changes and modifications may be made without departing from thespirit and scope of the invention as disclosed in the l appended claims.

I claim: 1. An inertia .device responsive to excessive deceleration oracceleration of a rotatable mem- -ace oi the armature @d normally holdthe arma= ber, an inertia element mounted to rotate co-l axially withsaid member, said element comprising a permanent magnet, and an armatureconcentric with and rotating with said member and operative tomagnetically drive said inertia ele#- ment at the speed of the rotatablemember when the latter is not accelerating or decelerating beyond anormal rate, the drive permitting the inertia element to overrun or lagbehind said member upon excessive deceleration or acceleration of saidmember, and control means operable upon such overrun or lag of theinertia element.

2. An inertia control device comprising a rotatable member, an armaturerotatable therewith an inertia element mounted to rotate concentricallywith said rotatable member and normally driven at the speed of saidrotatable member solely by means magnetically connected to said armatureand permitting overrun or lag behind of said inertia element uponexcessive deceleration or acceleration o-said rotatable member, and a.normally inactive armature arranged in such proximity to said means asto be actuated thereby upon such overrun or lag of the inertia elementand control means responsive to the actuation of said normally inactivearmature.

3. An inertia control device comprising a rotatable member, an armaturerotatable therewith an inertia element mounted to rotate concentricallywith said rotatable member and normally driven at the vspeed of saidrotatable member4 solely by means magnetically connected to saidarmature and permitting overrun or lag behind o1 said inertia elementupon excessive deceleration or acceleration of said rotatable member,and a normally inactive armature biased to inactive position butarranged in such proximity to said first-named means as to be actuatedagainst the action of its biasing means by said firstnamed means uponsuch overrun or lag of the inertia element and control means responsiveto the actuation of said normally inactive armature.

4. An inertia control device comprising a rotatable member, an inertiaelement mounted to rotate concentrically with said rotatable member andnormally driven at the speed of said rotat-v tion or acceleration, theinertia element over runs or lags behind the rotatable element soas tocause the lengthening or the cutting oi the -lines of force passingthrough said mst-named member and during normal driving having itslongitudinal axis extending between said poles, whereby the rotation ofsaid member magnetically effects rotation of said element at the samespeed, the mass of the inertia element being such as to overrun or lagbehind said rotatable member upon excessive deceleration or accelerationof said rotatable member. and control means actuated by said magnet uponsuch overrun or lag.

6. An inertia device of the class described cornprising a rotatablemember including an armature of magnetic material elongated transverselyto its axis, and rotatable with its periphery in close proximity to theinner face of a hollow cylindrical support of non-magnetic qualities, aninertia element rotatably mounted on said support and comprising apermanent magnet having pole pieces diametrically opposite| and arrangedin the plane of said armature, whereby the rotation of said rotatablemember magnetically drives said inertia element at the same speed butallows the inertia, element to overrun or lag behind the rotatablemember upon excessive acceleration or deceleration thereof, and controlmeans actuated by said over run or lag of the inertia element.

CAROLUS L. EKSERGIAN.

REFEBEN CES CITED The following references are of record in the nle ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,754,675 Frank Apr. 15, 19302,294,605 u Newell Sept. 1, 1942 2,294,606 Newell Sept. 1, 19422,198,032 Farmer 4.---..- Apr. 23, 1940 2,257,315 Sorensen Sept. 30,1941 1,665,613 Tanner Apr. 10, 1928 280,322 Nash June 26, 1883 2,278,507Baudry Apt. '1, 1942

